Mere scholarship is not enough

I often come across highly qualified people falling an easy prey to fake Gurus or mysterious practices. There does not seem to be any relation between their scholastic achievements and their ability to judge things especially when it comes to so called spirituality. On the other extreme, I see self claimed Gurus who are apparently well read, failing to exhibit conviction and deeper insight.

 

The reason is – when it comes to spirituality, it is not enough to read. One needs to ponder over what is read, grasp the finer aspects of it and finally meditate on what is understood. Not only that, one needs to live a specific way of life. Only then one can get complete insight.

One step at a time

Many a time things look altogether formidable. What we try to do looks almost impossible. Right now I am trying to carve a life size figure of a monk. The log I am using weighs almost as heavy as me! It is quite hardwood. I may have to chisel out almost half the wood. All that I have is a simple chisel. Can I do it? I never tried a figure of that size before.

 

Based on my prior experience on similar occasions, I just concentrate on “now”. I tell myself – “I need to chip off ‘this’ small part of the log”. I go on doing it chip at a time without bothering about the complete task on hand. It works!

Simple approach. But it almost always works.